Acclaimed director Martin Scorsese — the lensman behind classic dramas like Boxcar Bertha and GoodFellas — describes the soft-spoken Englishman as one of the most talented actors of our generation and he’s considering casting Grint as a gangster in one of his upcoming movies.

Rupert, of course, is best known for playing Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films. However, Scorsese, who has worked with Leonardo DiCaprio during his Oscar-nominated performance in The Departed and the 2009 mystery-thriller Shutter Island, says that Grint has potential to be just like Leo.

“I thought he (Grint) was a great actor in the ‘Harry Potter’ movies. In a lot of scenes, the boy stole the show. He will always have respect for the movies that gave him such a huge break, but at his age it’s important he doesn’t become typecast,” Scorsese said this week.

“He has to do something really out of his comfort zone in the next few years, play a gangster, a dirty cop, a kid with learning difficulties. I would be interested in working with him. I would have no issues in casting him as a gangster, he is a very talented young man,” he added. “When Leo was in Titanic and Romeo And Juliet, nobody saw him becoming a bad man in movies like The Departed. But he has become one of the greatest actors of all time. The very same could be true of Rupert.”